FDK

// Received July 2010 from NH Principal’s Listserv // // Hello all, // // We are investigating the possibility of selected full day kindergarten for a handful of students per year. We have done this informally in the past but I am curious what other districts are doing to assess which students might be eligible and other logistical issues that might arise. Is there anyone able to take this offline with me? //
 * Full Day Kindergarten Info **
 * Original question: **

// Thanks! I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer. // //Bill//

In Franklin, we now have full day kindergarten for all but we used to have 2 full day and 3 half day classes. We did an assessment before children started to decide which students would come to which program. I would be glad to discuss what we did with anyone who is interested. Mike Hoyt, Principal Paul Smith School 934-4144
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We have full day and extended day options for certain kids.. I would love to talk about this as what we do is a bit.. "non-standard"...

Dawn Lewis Ellis School, 895-2511 Fremont

We have a supplemental Title I kindergarten group we call K-Plus. It is essentially a full-day program for 10 children. Next year we will offer it and add a pm group to serve a total of 18 children. Doug Kilmister 435-8432

Hi Bill, At PES we used to have enough Title I funds to sponsor an Extended Day [= extended from noon to 3 pm] Kindergarten for the students most at risk in the area of literacy, e.g., had the least developed reading skills. This was before DIBELS, etc., so we just used some very basic diagnostics such as letter ID (+ letter sound), Concepts About Print, etc. Sadly our funds were reduced -- and we had a very experienced Title I staff so a great deal of the allocation had to be used just for salaries. The results were very positive. With two or three EDK's each with about six kids + a skilled reading teacher; with this small group targeted support, these kids were generally at grade level by the end of the school year. In some of the small village schools in the ConVal district, there have been a few Kind/ 1st grade multi-age classrooms where the K's stay all day. This was actually to help justify a full-time teacher when each group was so very small.

We had 4 full day and one half for parents who preferred that. We moved to full day for all. Some complain their children still want to nap; some that they need to play. I advise patience and they are fine by Oct if not sooner. Hope that helps. Grade 1 teachers see a noticeable positive diff in kids having full day vs those of past half day. Sorry no maturity tool though we screen all to understand their needs.

Noreen McAloon nmcaloon@hdsd.k12.nh.us

We also have half-day kindergarten. We have a small incoming K next fall (a big surprise, actually), and so we considered full day for some. Ultimately, we decided that there were way too many obstacles to doing this well, the most significant being the untimeliness of discovering the opportunity too late in the school year (May) to organize the effort effectively. But for the past two years, we have had an extended day for some K students (about 10%, determined through teacher evaluation/DIBELS scores) in our 'Jumpstart' program.

The way it works is we have four or five afternoon kindergarten students who come in ninety minutes early and get extra highly focused support for academics and social skills. Then, four of five morning students stay on for an extra ninety minutes past the end of their half day. Both group are together for an overlapping period of time (about an hour from 11:15 to 12:15) and here they practice social skills and have lunch together. This required getting the lunch program to provide hot lunches to those who choose. Following our RTI model, when students have caught up with their peers they are released from Jumpstart and someone else fills the spot.

This has been staffed by a now retired early childhood/spec. ed. teacher for four-five hours a day through grants. Next year (2011-12), we will have to move it into the regular budget to continue. Data is collected, and this program has had very strong outcomes. We looked at similar programs in Portsmouth and Dover. Portsmouth has since moved to full day K, I believe. It's a great program, actually!

If you call next week and ask for Jocelyn Robinson, our Special Education Coordinator (and the administrator on duty) I bet she could answer any questions you might have.

Good luck.

Scott Thompson

Here in Raymond we started last year a full day program for at risk students using ARRA dollars. We assessed all of the students the first couple weeks of school using primarily the PALS. We had a teacher and an aide and had 10 extra students for each session for a total of 20 all day students. This was 20 of the 105 students attending kindergarten.

We administer the NWEA and DRA in the spring of kinderrgarten and our results were the best we have seen to date.

Send ma an email or drop me aline if you are interested in hearing more.

Dan LeGallo LRES Principal Raymond, NH 895-3117 ext. 3103 d.legallo@sau33.com

Good Morning Bill,

We are now entering our 4th year of offering extended day K program. We offer this program to a small number of students, 12 max enrollment for those that are the most at risk in the area of literacy. We utilize the PALs preschool assessment tool, and look at a number of other factors in offering slots in this AM program. Students in the EDK program then go on to a regular PM K class. The focus of the program is all literacy based for early intervention and we are seeing amazing results. One of the most challenging hurdles is making certain parents know this is a regular education initiative. All students are reading on grade level at the end of the program and have moved from the lowest 15-18% of students to the mid to high range.

Thanks for posting the feedback.

Liz

Elizabeth Allen, Principal Hollis Primary School 36 Silver Lake Road Hollis, NH 03049 603-465-2260